Empirical limitations of energy dissipation in /sup 252/Cf(sf)

Technical Report · Sat Apr 01 00:00:00 EST 1978

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/6725556· OSTI ID:6725556

Schultheis, H.; Schultheis, R.

Limitations for the energy dissipated in the spontaneous fission of /sup 252/Cf were studied on the basis of the experimental fragment kinetic energies, neutron and ..gamma.. data and the calculated (static) potential energies of the fragments. Upper bounds for the dissipated energy are obtained by restricting the parameter space of the fissioning system to the domain which is compatible with the experimental post-scission data, and by computing the maximum energy available in this domain for dissipation. No assumptions were made about the fission dynamics or the dissipation mechanism. A numerical evaluation was performed for 19 pairs of fragments in /sup 252/Cf(sf), taking into account spheroidal fragment shapes with diffuse surface, nuclear interaction and Coulomb excitation effects. The energy available for internal excitation at scission is found to be small (< or = to 10 MeV). An analysis of the uncertainties entering into this result shows that high dissipation in /sup 252/Cf(sf) is incompatible with the existing experimental data unless peculiar fragment shapes are assumed. Upper bounds are also given for the fragment deformations. The hypothesis of scission, minimum potential energy at the influence of fragment effects, and the relevance of data from ternary fission are discussed.

• Research Organization: University of Maryland, College Park, MD
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE
• DOE Contract Number: EY-76-S-05-5126
• OSTI ID: 6725556
• Report Number(s): ORO-5126-35; TRN: 78-015954
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS
CALIFORNIUM 252
SPONTANEOUS FISSION
COULOMB EXCITATION
ENERGY LOSSES
FISSION FRAGMENTS
GAMMA SPECTRA
LIMITING VALUES
MATHEMATICAL SPACE
NEUTRON SPECTRA
NUCLEAR STRUCTURE
POTENTIAL ENERGY
SURFACES
ACTINIDE ISOTOPES
ACTINIDE NUCLEI
ALPHA DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
CALIFORNIUM ISOTOPES
ENERGY
ENERGY-LEVEL TRANSITIONS
EVEN-EVEN NUCLEI
EXCITATION
FISSION
HEAVY NUCLEI
ISOTOPES
NUCLEAR FRAGMENTS
NUCLEAR REACTIONS
NUCLEI
RADIOISOTOPES
SPACE
SPECTRA
YEARS LIVING RADIOISOTOPES
653006* - Nuclear Theory- Spontaneous &amp; Induced Fission